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Grooming is an important part of looking after your Schnauzer. Regular grooming will help keep your Schnauzer healthy and comfortable and you will spot potential problems early. Whether you decide to clip or strip your Schnauzer, help is on hand. Schnauzers are generally a non-shedding breed and will require a fair amount of grooming to get rid of dead hair.
So Rodney came home last Friday. He’s settling in really well and getting lots of attention. I’d like to start brushing him to get him used to that, might be a silly question but is there a particular type of brush that I should get that’s more suitable for Schnauzers?
I’d like to hand strip him, my mum has had Border terriers before and we’ve always just done it with our hands. Reading all the advice it sounds like a stripping instrument is used for schnauzers, is this completely necessary or could I just use my hands? How will I know when he’s ready to be start being striped? His coat it very soft at the moment.
Thank you for you patience with a complete newbie to schnauzers.
For general day to day grooming I've always preferred a metal toothed comb you can get right down to the skin. I find brushes don't get down to the skin as easily and that's where the mats start. It also depends on the hair. The two schnauzers I've had have completely different leg hair. Barneys leg hair wasn't profuse and needed combing through properly every 2-3 days otherwise some matts would form. Jaspers is kind of dense and fluffy and I've yet to see it get a matt.
As for stripping equipment you can do it with your fingers but its a lot slower job. Even just wrapping an elastic band round your thumb and forefinger or using bankers finger cots inside out on your fingers vastly improves grip and makes it far easier and quicker. I don't know much about stripping borders. I think you can get away with doing them twice a year. Is that right ? Also do you card out undercoat on a border ? A stripping knife is used the other way around running it through the coat to get out undercoat, and stripping is done on a weekly basis to roll the coat.
You can start carding his coat straight away this will get the fluff out and encourage the wire to come through
Our first family dog
Barney - Pocketpark Biali Eyebright 6/2/13 - 8/3/19 Gone too soon Motto for owners who groom their own Schnauzers -"Never mind it'll soon grow back"
Re grooming, it is best to try and remove as much of the soft puppy fluff as you can as soon as possible as this will allow the harsher top coat hairs to come through. We have found a grooming stone great for this. It can be broken into smaller pieces to make it easier to use with a puppy / small dog and can get huge amounts of fluff / undercoat out.
We buy ours from a livestock accessory suppliers which sell them to people with horses as they are also used on horses - it is much cheaper than buying online
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~Roger Caras
Magic - Silversocks Sharade at Darksprite Trilby -Darksprite Rosa Bud
Yes I think. you're right, with a Border you can get away with 2/3 times a year grooming so a huge difference there.
Off to buy a comb and stripping brush!
x
Dawnspell wrote: ↑27 Sep 2019, 10:34
For general day to day grooming I've always preferred a metal toothed comb you can get right down to the skin. I find brushes don't get down to the skin as easily and that's where the mats start. It also depends on the hair. The two schnauzers I've had have completely different leg hair. Barneys leg hair wasn't profuse and needed combing through properly every 2-3 days otherwise some matts would form. Jaspers is kind of dense and fluffy and I've yet to see it get a matt.
As for stripping equipment you can do it with your fingers but its a lot slower job. Even just wrapping an elastic band round your thumb and forefinger or using bankers finger cots inside out on your fingers vastly improves grip and makes it far easier and quicker. I don't know much about stripping borders. I think you can get away with doing them twice a year. Is that right ? Also do you card out undercoat on a border ? A stripping knife is used the other way around running it through the coat to get out undercoat, and stripping is done on a weekly basis to roll the coat.
You can start carding his coat straight away this will get the fluff out and encourage the wire to come through
